The doping with sleeping pills and the rapes must have gone on for a period of ten years. There are also 50 other men aged 26 to 74 sitting on the dock. The rapes were filmed.
The trial started a couple of weeks ago, but only on Tuesday did the 71-year-old defendant appear in court.
– I acknowledge everything I am accused of. I am a rapist, just like everyone else in this room, said the 71-year-old when he explained himself, according to the TV channel BFMTV who is present in the courtroom.
Ask for forgiveness
He also apologized.
– I am guilty of what I have done. I regret what I have done, I ask for forgiveness, even if it is unforgivable, he said.
The man’s 72-year-old ex-wife is also present in the courtroom. She has insisted that the trial be held in public. The couple lived together for 50 years and she has explained that she could never have imagined that he could do what he did.
– I had full confidence in this man, she explained.
Poor health
His lawyers have previously said that the man wants to use the trial to apologize to his family.
The judges have several times had to postpone the man’s explanation due to his ill health. When he appeared in court in Avignon on Tuesday, he arrived with a cane.
The case has received a lot of attention in France, and the French media have chosen to identify both the man and his ex-wife.
#French #media #Man #admits #mass #rape #wife
2024-09-19 20:18:12
